Advanced Placement Psychology
Full Year Course
(5 Credits)
I. Course Description
Advanced Placement Psychology is a full year course designed for students interested in taking a course taught at a college level and in preparing students for the Advanced Placement examination in Psychology. This course provides an in-depth understanding of the principles and theories of psychology. Students also learn about the methods psychologists use to explore the processes involved in normal and abnormal perceptions thoughts, feelings and actions. The course covers an extremely broad range of topics from the physiology of the brain to social behavior and interaction.
II. Course Outline & Content
Unit One: History and Approaches/Introduction (1 week)
Concepts: Psychological Roots, Perspectives (neuroscience, socio-cultural, cognitive, behavioral, evolutionary, and psychodynamic) and Subfields.
Essential Questions: How does Psychology relate to my community and me? Why study Psychology?
Objectives: 1. Describe and compare the biological, behavioral, cognitive, sociocultural, humanistic, and psychodynamic perspectives.
2. List and explain the major subfields of psychology.
3. Identify ethical issues in psychological research.
Myers: Introduction/Chapter 1
Unit Two: Personality (2 weeks)
Concepts: Freud and the Unconscious: psychosexual stages, defense mechanisms, projective tests, dreams; Neo-Freudians: Adler and Birth Order/Inferiority Complex, Jung, Horney; Trait Perspective: Myers-Brigg Type Indicator, Eysenck, Big Five, MMPI-2, Person-Situation Controversy; Humanist Perspective: Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, self-esteem and concept, individualist vs. collectivist; Social-Cognitive: control, environment, reciprocal-determinism, Bandura, Seligman, locus of control, learned helplessness.
Essential Questions: How can I interpret my personality and those of people around me? How has my personality been shaped? Which is better: peer reports or self-reports? Do I know anyone who is self-actualized? Am I the master of my fate?
Objectives: 1. Define personality.
2. Explain the role of personality constructs as a framework for organizing behavioral phenomenon.
3. Explain the characteristics of the major approaches and theorists.
4. Distinguish and describe objective and projective tests used in personality assessment.
Myers: Chapter 14
Video clips: “Biography Sigmund Freud: Analysis of a Mind”: A&E, 1995
“Dead Poet’s Society”: Touchstone, 1987
“Schindler’s List”: Universal, 1993
Unit Three: Research Methods & Statistics (2 weeks)
Concepts: Scientific Attitude, Scientific Method and elements, Description (case study, survey, and naturalistic observation), Observation and Correlation, Experimentation and elements, Statistical elements (mean, median, mode, z-score, normal curve, standard deviation).
Essential Questions: Is human intuition remarkably accurate and free from error? How are experiments “controlled”? How do researchers draw accurate conclusions about behavior from their studies? Why is statistics important to Psychology? Is it ethical to use humans as “experimental animals”?
Objectives: 1. Describe the elements of an experiment.
2. Describe and compare quantitative and qualitative research strategies.
3. Define descriptive statistics and explain how they are used by behavioral scientists.
4. Explain and describe measures of central tendency and variability.
5. Describe the concept of correlation and explain how it is used in psychology.
6. recognize how inferential statistics are used in research.
Myers: Chapter 1
Hockenbury: Appendix A (Statistics)
Debate: “Is it ethical to use humans as experimental animals?”
Unit Four: Biological Bases of Behavior (2½ weeks)
Concepts: Neural communication/parts of the neuron, neurotransmitters, Central Nervous System, Peripheral Nervous System, Imaging the Brain (PET, CT, EEG, MRI), Brain structures, Divided Brain/Hemispheres/Injury – Phineas Gage, Endocrine System.
Essential Questions: Of all the activities you do during the day, which ones are not related to operations in the brain? How does injury and illness affect the brain and mind? How does the teenage brain develop differently from an adult brain?
Objectives: 1. Students will understand the structure and function of the neuron.
2. Describe how information is transmitted and integrated in the nervous system.
3. Describe the organization of the structure and function of the brain.
4. Technologies and clinical methods for studying the brain.
5. Describe the structure and function of the endocrine system.
Myers: Chapter 2
Video: “Awakenings”: Columbia, 1990.
Unit Five: Nature vs. Nurture (2 weeks)
Concepts: Biological blueprint, evolutionary psychology, natural selection, sexuality, behavior genetics, molecular genetics, twin studies, environmental influence, peer influence, culture, gender.
Essential Questions: Nature Vs. Nurture or Nature Via Nurture? Do parents matter? Who has been the most important influence in your life?
Objectives: 1. Recognize how biological and cultural notions of gender shape the experiences of men and women.
2. Describe and explain twin studies and adoption studies.
3.
Myers: Chapter 3
Hock: “Are You a Natural?”
Unit Six: Developmental Psychology (2½ weeks)
Concepts: Prenatal development, infancy development, attachment, adolescent development, adulthood and aging, death and dying, Cognitive development (Jean Piaget), Social development (Harlow, Erickson, and Ainsworth), Moral development (Kohlberg).
Essential Questions: When does development begin and end? What is Love? What kind of parenting have you received? Would you want to live to be 100 years old? Why or why not? Should adolescents be able to make adult-like decisions without a parent’s consent or help?
Objectives: 1. Describe physical, social, and cognitive changes from the prenatal period throughout the life span.
2. Examine the nature of change over the life span.
3. Apply life span principles to personal experience.
4. Explain various developmental models (Piaget, Erickson, Kohlberg)
5.
Myers: Chapter 4
Hock: “Discovering Love”
“In Control and Glad of It!”
Debate: “Should adolescents be required to have adult approval to be able to have an abortion of should they be legally allowed to make this decision on their own?”
Unit Seven: Sensation and Perception (3 weeks)
Concepts: Thresholds, Sensory Adaptation, Vision, Hearing, physical construction of the eye and ear, Color vision, Sound waves, Information processing, Hearing Loss, Touch, Pain, Taste, Smell, Body Position/Movement, Sensory Restriction, Perceptual Illusions, Form & Depth Perception, Cues, Motion perception, Sensory deprivation, Adaptation, ESP.
Essential Questions: How do we hear, see, and feel what is around us? Would you like to have a life without pain? Why or why not? How do we “perceive” the world around us, as well as the people in it? What is the difference between sensation and perception?
Objectives: 1. Explain the concepts of threshold, adaptation, and constancy.
2. Describe the operation of sensory systems.
3. Explain Gestalt concepts and principles, such as figure-ground, continuity, similarity, proximity, closure, etc…
4. Describe binocular and monocular depth cues.
5. Describe the influence on perception of environmental variables, motivation, past experiences, culture, and expectations.
Myers: Chapters 5 & 6
Hock: “Watch Out For the Visual Cliff!”
Unit Eight: States of Consciousness (1½ weeks)
Concepts: Biological Rhythms, Sleep Stages, Sleep Disorders, Dreams, Hypnosis, Drugs & Consciousness, Addiction, Depressants, Stimulants, and Hallucinogens.
Essential Questions: How do illicit drugs as well as medications affect behavior? Why is sleep so important? What happens during sleep? What is consciousness?
Objectives: 1. Define/Describe states and levels of consciousness.
2. Describe the sleep cycle.
3. Assess types of sleep disorders.
4. Compare different theories about the use and meaning of dreams.
5. Describe several hypnotic phenomena and the uses of hypnosis.
6. Characterize the major categories of psychoactive drugs and their effects.
7. Evaluate the effects of narcotic, depressant, stimulant, and hallucinogenic drugs.
Myers: Chapter 7
Unit Nine: Learning (2 weeks)
Concepts: Classical Conditioning (Pavlov), UCS/UCR/CS/CR, Operant Conditioning (Skinner), Reinforcement, Rewards, Punishment, Shaping, reinforcement schedules, Observational Learning (Bandura), modeling.
Essential Questions: Why is learning important to Psychology? What do we “learn”? In what ways do we learn? How are the main theories of learning similar or dissimilar?
Objectives: 1. Discuss learning from a psychological viewpoint.
2. Describe classical conditioning elements (Pavlov).
3. Describe operant conditioning elements (Skinner).
4. Explain how observational learning works.
5. Explore how culture and biology contribute to learning.
Myers: Chapter 8
Hock: “See Aggression… Do Aggression!”
Video: “Mean Girls”: Paramount, 2004.
Unit Ten: Memory (2 weeks)
Concepts: Information Processing (encoding, storage, retrieval), Encoding: effortful processing, automatic processing, meaning, imagery, organizing information; Storage: sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, 7+/- 2; Retrieval: moods, context, forgetting, decay, retrieval failure, interference, misinformation (Loftus), amnesia, eyewitness recall; Brain: hormones & synaptic changes (LTP), hippocampus.
Essential Questions: Does memory fade or change? Explain. How are schemas involved in creating or altering memory? How do we get information into memory? How do we get it out? How/when does memory fail?
Objectives: 1. Describe the encoding, or getting information into memory.
2. Describe the operation of sensory memory.
3. Describe the operation of short-term memory and working memory.
4. Describe the operation of long-term memory.
5. Describe the retrieval, or getting information out of memory.
6. Analyze and explain the role and importance of retrieval cues and interference.
7. Relate difficulties created by reconstructive memory processes.
8. Identify the brain structures most important memory.
9. Describe the processes that lead to inaccuracies in memory and factors that interfere with memory.
Myers: Chapter 9
Hock: “Thanks For the Memories!”
Unit Eleven: Language and Thinking (3 weeks)
Concepts: Language structure and components: grammar, syntax, semantics, phonemes, morphemes; Language development and stages; Animals and Language: the honeybee dance and Washoe the ape; Problem solving: algorithms, heuristics, insight, fixation, confirmation bias, mental set, overconfidence, framing, belief bias/perseverance; Bilingual advantage, B.L. Whorf, Nature vs. Nurture (Skinner and Chomsky), Artificial intelligence and processing.
Essential Questions: How do our beliefs and past experiences distort logical reasoning? What are some limits to human intuition? How is the Nature/Nurture debate illustrated in the theories of language development?
Objectives: 1. Describe the basic elements the comprise thought.
2. Strategies and obstacles involved in problem solving and decision-making.
3. Structural features of language.
4. Theories and developmental stages of language acquisition.
5. Links between thinking and language.
6. Examine the influence of language on thought and behavior
7. Speculate on whether animals acquire and use language.
Myers: Chapter 10
Video: “Secrets of a Wild Child”: NOVA, 1994
Unit Twelve: Intelligence and Testing (2 weeks)
Concepts: Alfred Binet (Stanford-Binet), Lewis Terman, mental age, IQ, savant syndrome, mental retardation, General intelligence (Spearman), Multiple intelligences (Gardner), Successful intelligence (Sternberg), Emotional intelligence, Wisdom, Aptitude/Achievement tests, WAIS, WISC, Test construction (reliability, validity, and bias) Genetic and Environmental influences on intelligence.
Essential Questions: Should intelligence be considered a general mental ability or many specific abilities? Why? What is the difference between intelligence and wisdom? Can you teach intelligence?
Objectives: 1. Define and understand the nature if test constructs, such as intelligence, personality, and creativity.
2. Describe basic statistical concepts in testing.
3. Explain how intelligence and personality may be influenced by heredity and environment.
4. Link intelligence to the use of cognitive skills and strategies.
5. Describe the theories of intelligence.
6. Explain why intelligence tests predict achievement.
7. Explain issues of using conventional intelligence tests and possible biases.
Myers: Chapter 11
Hock: “Just How Are You Intelligent?”
Unit Thirteen: Motivation and Emotion (3 weeks)
Concepts: Instincts, Drive reduction, Incentives, Arousal, Sensation seeking, Maslow’s Hierarchy of motives, Intrinsic/Extrinsic motivation, leadership styles/Theory X & Y, Hunger motivation: Brain, Set point, Basal metabolic rate, Eating disorders; Sexual motivation: Kinsey, Sexual response cycle, Masters and Johnson, Sexual disorders, Stimuli, Teens and sex, Sexual orientation, Theories of emotion: James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory, Lazarus; Nonverbal behavior, Facial expression, Fear, Anger, and Happiness.
Essential Questions: What motivates people to action? What image comes to mind when I ask you where you see yourself in 15 years? How far would you go to satiate your hunger? How strong do you think this motivation is internally? Explain. If sex isn’t a necessity, what motivates people to engage in sexual intercourse? Explain the significance of environmental and biological factors in emotion. Would you like to never be sad again? Explain why or why not. Why do we need to vent our emotions as human beings?
Objectives: 1. Apply motivational concepts to the behavior of humans and other animals.
2. Describe the interaction of internal cues and learning on basic drives.
3. Describe the situational cues giving rise to fear, anger, curiosity, and anxiety.
4. Describe one or more theories of motivation, such as expectancy value, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and drive reduction.
5. Explain how common motives and emotions develop.
6. Describe theories of emotion such as James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schacter’s Two-Factor Theory, and Cognitive-Mediational theory.
7. Explain how emotions and behaviors are related (non-verbal communication).
8. Explain how learning, memory, problem-solving, and decision-making strategies are influenced by motivation and emotion.
Myers: Chapter 12 & 13
Video: “Alive”: Touchstone, 1990.
Unit Fourteen: Abnormal Psychology and Treatment (4 weeks)
Concepts: Medical model, Bio-psycho-social model, Classification, DSM IV-TR, Labeling (Rosenhan), Disorders: Anxiety, Mood, Dissociative, Schizophrenia, Personality, Psychoanalysis (Freud), Humanistic Therapy (Rogers), Cognitive Therapy (Beck), Group/Family Therapy, Behavior Therapy (Aversive, Token Economy, Systematic Desensitization), Types of Therapists, Psychopharmacology: Anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotics, ECT, Psychosurgery, Stress-response system (Selye), Heart Disease.
Essential Questions: What is “normal”? What does it feel like to be labeled? Why is it natural to have anxiety and phobias? How much is too much? Why do you think someone would want to be ill? Provide a reason why someone would ingest a drug or toxin to induce physical symptoms? In what ways does clinical depression differ from the “blues”? What is the difference between sexual dysfunction and sexual deviance? What makes someone a killer? What are some differences between crimes of passion and someone who is a serial killer? What is “the best” therapy?
Objectives: 1. Distinguish the common characteristics of abnormal behavior and cite examples of abnormal behavior.
2. Describe major explanations for the origins of abnormality.
3. Discuss the major categories of abnormal behavior.
4. Explore the challenges associated with accurate diagnosis.
5. Discuss the stigma associated with abnormal behavior.
6. Speculate about means for promoting greater understanding of abnormal behavior.